Stop BTOpenzone from hijacking your connection

Lately, we’ve been receiving an increasing number of enquiries about how to stop BT Openzone or BT FON from hijacking your wireless internet connection.

This occurs when the Openzone or BT FON connection is given priority over your secure home network in your computer’s automatic connection list.

The most obvious way to stop this problem from happening is to DELETE THE UNWANTED WIFI NETWORK(S):

XP

Press on ‘Start’ at the bottom left of your desktop. Click to open ‘Network Connections’

Right click your Wireless Card > ‘Wireless Networks’ and under ‘Preferred Networks’, simply press delete on the correct one.

Vista / Windows 7

Click > Windows logo at the bottom left of the screen.

Then Select Control Panel > Network and Sharing Centre.  Under ‘Tasks’ click ‘Manage Wireless Networks’.

To delete the networks you don’t want to be stored: right click > Remove Network.

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But what if this doesn’t solve the problem? For many users (though not all) it seems that BT Openzone or BT FON keep reappearing.

So what else can you do?

RE-ORDER YOUR WIRELESS NETWORKS GIVING YOUR CHOSEN CONNECTION THE TOP SPOT:

XP

Double Click ‘Wireless Connection’ icon in the system tray. Or click ‘Start > Control Panel > Network Connections’, then double click on the ‘Wireless Network Connection’

In the small window that appears click ‘Properties’. Then, in that window, click the ‘Wireless Networks’ (middle) tab.

Here you will find a list of all past networks you have connected to. Select your preferred network, (i.e. Home) and click ‘Move Up’ until it is higher in the list than BT Openzone.

Vista/Windows 7

Click ‘Windows Logo (bottom left of screen) > Control Panel > Network & Internet > Network and Sharing Centre’.

Then click ‘Manage wireless networks’ in the list on the left hand side of the window.

Select your preferred network from the list (i.e. Home) and click ‘Move Up’ until it is above BT Openzone.

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Alternatively, you could CHANGE YOUR PREFERENCES SO THAT BT OPENZONE REQUIRES A MANUAL CONNECTION:

XP

Double Click ‘Wireless Connection’ icon in the system tray. Or click ‘Start > Control Panel > Network Connections’, then double click on the ‘Wireless Network Connection’

In the small window that appears click ‘Properties’. Then, in that window, click the ‘Wireless Networks’ (middle) tab.

Here, select BT Openzone from the preferred networks list and click on the ‘Properties’ button.

Select the ‘Connection’ tab and ensure the tick is removed from the ‘Connect when network is in range’ box.

Vista/Windows 7

Click ‘Windows Logo (bottom left of screen) > Control Panel > Network & Internet > Network and Sharing Centre’.

Then click ‘Manage wireless networks’ in the list on the left hand side of the window.

From the list, select BT Openzone and click on the ‘Properties’ button.

Click the ‘Connection’ tab and ensure the tick is removed from the ‘Connect when this network is in range’ box.

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One last option for Windows XP:

Your computer may be configured to allow automatic connection to non-secured networks, such as BT Openzone.

To prevent this from happening, double Click ‘Wireless Connection’ icon in the system tray. Or click ‘Start > Control Panel > Network Connections’, then double click on the ‘Wireless Network Connection’

In the small window that appears click ‘Properties’. Then, in that window, click the ‘Wireless Networks’ (middle) tab.

Click on the ‘Advanced’ button in the window, and in the next window that appears, make sure ‘Automatically connect to non-preferred networks’ is not ticked.